most consistent hitters, averaging .321, 34
homersand 118RBIs from2004-’12,while
rarely taking adayoff (he’shadone, total,
thepast two seasons).He’s alsofinished in
thetopfiveintheMVPvoteastaggeringfive
timesbeforefinallywinningitlastyear.Still,
otherhitters, likeAlbertPujols, JoshHam-
iltonandAlexRodriguez, always gotmore
publicityandmorefanfare.Really,andprob-
ablyunfairly, ittookaTripleCrowntoeven
getCabrera featured insomecommercials.
Part of that is circumstance. Cabrera
playedthefirstfiveyearsofhismajor league
career for theMarlins, a team that gener-
ateslittleexposureinSouthBeach, letalone
nationally. Also, his Cy Young–winning
teammate, JustinVerlander, whouseshis
downtimetoham itupon
Conan
andhitthe
golf linksatPebbleBeach, definitely steals
muchof thethunder.
“It’samazing,”Caseysays,“thatittookan
MVPandaTripleCrown to say, ‘Wow, this
guy’sprobablythebestplayer inthegame.’ ”
AndperhapseveninTigershistory.Jerry
Green, a longtime-but-now-quasi-retired
Detroit sportswriter, already puts him
just behindKalinebut still aways behind
Cobb.OtherswouldputhimaheadofKaline.
There’s still time forCabrera toclimb that
ladder, of course.He’s aTiger, by contract,
foratleastthreemoreseasons,thoughDom-
browski sayshehopesCabrera retires as a
Tiger. ThatwouldgiveCabreraample time
toaccomplish inDetroitwhatKalinedid in
1968:winaWorldSeriestitle.TheTigersfin-
ished just fourwins short in2012. Andget-
tingover thehump,without adoubt, is the
prime focus for2013. After signingHunter,
theveteranoutfielder, and re-signingplay-
off pitching hero Anibal Sanchez— plus
Martinez is nowhealthy— theTigers are
amongtheheavyfavoritestogetthejobdone,
along with the Angels, theWashington
NationalsandtheLosAngelesDodgers.
“I just goout thereandplayhard towin
achampionship,”Cabrera says. “Inever go
out[thinkingI’m]gonnawinthisorwinthat.
I always goout there anddomybest. I do
everythingtowin.”
TheWorldSeries, that is.
Not theTripleCrown. Or theMVP. Or
anything else that’smore about him than
his team. Cabrera isplenty content letting
all thatotherstu¥speak for itself.
NobodyknewhowCabrerawouldadapt
to themove. LastMarch, though, duringa
spring traininggame justacoupleofweeks
beforeopeningday, theTigers got anot-so-
subtlereminderofthefiretheywereplaying
withwhenCabrera, their franchisehitter,
tookahotshotgrounder to the face.Hadhe
not beenwearing sunglasses, it couldhave
beenacareer-ender. Instead, it resulted in
only stitches and abig scar.Manyplayers
wouldhavebeen tentativeabout returning
to thefieldafter that. ButCabreraworked
tirelesslytomaketheswitchworkand,while
hewon’twinanyfieldingawardsforhisplay
ontheothersideofthediamond,hewasbet-
terthanmostexpected.Anymiscues inthe
field, hemore thanmadeup forat theplate
— justastheTigerssuspectedhewould.
“Ialways think if youworkhardandyou
wanttodosomething,thenyou’reabletodo
it,”Cabreraexplains.
Themoveprovedgreatlybeneficialtothe
Tigers,asFieldersignedanine-yearcontract
andbatteda career-best .313with30hom-
ersand108RBIs.More importantly,hepro-
videdprotectioninthebattingorder,hitting
behindCabrera, as hedid the year before
for theMilwaukee Brewers’ RyanBraun,
who just sohappened towin theMVP too.
Pitcherswere forced to pick their poison,
andmost chose to pitch toCabreramore
than theyhad theyearbefore,whenMarti-
nezhadhitbehindhim.
It’salsowhy,whenCabreraisaskedwhat
thedi¥erencewasforhisproductionin2012,
healwayscitesFielder—andFielderalone.
BOTH DOMBROWSKI,
theTigers’
generalmanager, andAl Avila, theTigers’
assistant general manager, have literally
watchedCabreragrowup.Theyweretogeth-
er in theMarlins front o§ce in 1999when
theysignedCabrera,whowasthena16-year-
oldhotshotshortstopfromVenezuela.They
thought sohighlyofCabrera—hisathletic
abilityandhis family(hismother,Gregoria,
played shortstop forVenezuela’s national
softball team, andhis father,Miguel, was
abaseball player)— that theMarlins gave
Cabreraa$1.8millionsigningbonuswhich,
atthetime,wasunheardof forateenager.
AfterDombrowski andAvila left to re-
buildastoriedDetroitfranchisethatwas in
shambles, Cabreradebutedas a left fielder
for theMarlins in2003andhelped lead the
team toaWorldSerieschampionship.Ever
since, he’sbeenoneof thegame’sbest and
MIGUEL CABRERA
TONY PAUL
writes about all things baseball for
The
DetroitNews
.
AA.COM/AMERICANWAY
APRIL 01, 2013
53
Asking the right
questions about pediatric
liver transplants is
changing theoutcome
for our children:
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We’re improving therapies
for pediatric liver transplant
by asking the right questions.
View our outcomes at
cincinnatichildrens.org/
liver-outcomes.
